Beginner Linux Book

[mikezel]

hi
i am considering installing and learning how to use linux on my pc, and have very little idea of what i'm doing. would this book be what i need? is the included distro one that would be appropraite for a total beginner?
if its not good, please tell me because im just learning.
thanks,
mike

[Bushtree]

Yes, Fedora would be a fine OS. You could also start with a Mandrake Distro. As it seems to be the most desktop user friendly. Where others are more for webservers and such.

[Karnevil9]

While that book should be fine, the price is throwing me. www.amazon.com has a Fedora for dummies book with the OS for half that price. The OS that comes with the book is completly acceptable. Shop around a bit to see if you can get a better deal. There is so much information on the net about Linux systems that whatever a book doesn't cover you can probably find out from the many forums out there.
Fedora is Redhats new home version, so it is a good user friendly system, with good hardware recognition and easy to install.

Here are tow other places to go for linux information

www.justlinux.org

www.linuxquestions.org

Linux questions has a Fedora specific discussion board.

[mikezel]

Originally posted by Karnevil9 While that book should be fine, the price is throwing me. www.amazon.com has a Fedora for dummies book with the OS for half that price. The OS that comes with the book is completly acceptable. Shop around a bit to see if you can get a better deal.

i wasnt able to find a fedora for dummies book at amazon, but the 'for dummies' site lists it for $40 US. i probably should have mentioned this before, but the price on that site is in $CDN. plus theres a store near me so i wont have to pay shipping.
thanks for the input so far, and i would still appreciate any other comments

[mikezel]

would this book be better?
sorry if i'm being a hassle but i really want to make the right decision. thanks alot,
mike

[Karnevil9]

Ah. I didn't look at your location.

Sorry but I can't enlarge the picture for that book to see what operating system it is.
By the way, there was nothing wrong with your first choice, it was just the price that got me, but I didn't relaize that we were talking canadian dollars.

[mikezel]

i think that they are both the same os. they both

Includes a DVD that contains all of the CD-ROMs that make up the full Fedora Core distribution, including the source code

i was just wondering which book would suit me better, i.e. would the 9in1 book be more helpful to me
thanks again

[mikezel]

okay, now i'm thinking of getting this book, and using a downloaded Mandrake 9.2. Ive been looking around and get the impression that Mandrake would be better for me than Fedora, which is included with the book. The book's description says it covers Mandrake too.
any comments or suggestions?
mike

[Karnevil9]

Without knowing what each book covers exactly that makes them different, it is hard to say which book is better for you. Being a complete begginner to Linux I am tempted to say the book that covers the most information, which would also be the most expensive book. However, there are so many places on the web to get info on linux that many people do not even bother with books at all. Plus there may be a lot of information in that book that does not apply to most users, such as server applications. If this was me I would go with the least expensive book with enough adequate knowledge, as suggested by the book reviews from people who bought it.

As for the book and Mandrake. Yes there are enough similarities between the two that the book will work. Actually, Mandrake was designed from RedHat, and they both use RPM packaging for updates.

Personnaly I like Fedora over Mandrake but everyone is different. Since the book will come with Fedora, and you will DL Mandrake, there is no harm in trying them both for awhile and see which one you like best.

[jacatone]

A book that has been recommended several times on TechTV is: Moving to Linux: Kiss the Blue Screen of Death Goodbye!
by Marcel Gagne. A link is here: http://www.informit.com/bookstore/pr...bn=0321159985. It has a Knoppix CD included so you can boot to the OS from your CD-ROM. I've also seen a PDF file called "Teach Yourself Linux in 24 hours" on several sites. PM me if you want a copy.